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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InVinoVeritas" data-source="post: 3559686" data-attributes="member: 41485">Torhan opens the coach as Ru hops off. Calahan leaps out of the carriage to get the space needed to use his bow."On the ground before I put you down where you stand!"Ru slowly approaches, bow at the ready. Calahan nocks and arrow, ready to fire. The gnome stands straight up. Calahan fires a shot, but it goes wide. Ru aims for the gnome's heart, ready for the attack or flight, as Calahan gets his next arrow ready.The gnome reaches for his mask and takes it off. His face... rings. It appears as a blur, his head shaking so violently that no features are clear--a horrific rictus here, a weeping eye there... as if his head were nothing but a miasma of agony.And there is this sound. As the gnome's head vibrates, a piercing peal fills the air, like an alarm, like a clock signifying an end, like a faraway trumpet and like the ringing in your ears. Ru and Calahan suddenly clutch their heads in pain. [sblock=Ru]The sound takes Ru back to his days in the Strahd Street Irregulars. It is as if it was yesterday, traveling to Gis for his fateful meet. "You're a wise one. Not like the others." Ru's ears fill with ringing as the world shifts... he is in Ari's hideout, to report his failure--to Gis. Gis looks at Ru, grins, and morphs into the form of Ari. "Strahd boy in life, Strahd boy in death, Ru." Ru's vision crosses as it feels as if his whole head vibrates. Ari reaches out for him, his poison ring prepped for a lethal dosage... Ru is Confused. Next round he will flee at top speed from the gnome. [/sblock][sblock=Calahan]For a moment, the sound of birds fill the air. The buildings are like trees, and there is no one around... but the birds coalesce into the sound of a violin, playing a single, long, melancholy note. Wolves in the distance howl as the player of the violin comes near. A friend? Is it Calahan himself? He plays a violin with an impossibly long bow. The crescendoing note is held steady as it takes residence in Calahan's mind----and the forest is gone. The ringing gnome remains. Calahan stops pulling his bow across his arrow and sets it back up...Calahan is Confused. Next round he may act normally.[/sblock][sblock=Darian]The disconcerting spectacle astounds Darian. What is this? What does it mean? How is this happening?Pain, Darian. This is pain. There is truth in pain, Darian. Imagine the truths he holds.[/sblock][sblock=Torhan]Torhan looks outside, noticing the gnome stand. Suddenly, he recognizes him. That gnome, that mask... this is the one who was crawling on Edditomas' roof. [/sblock][sblock=Fr. Berman]Fr. Berman watches the sudden change to the entire situation, and quickly looks back to Alek, Kitten, and Marionette. They huddle. They are scared. Worried. [/sblock]</blockquote>

Verification